Welcome to World Language! My name is Ms. Dorgan and I teach Spanish and World Language classes to the 4^th and 5^th grade students at the Austin Intermediate School.

A little about me……….

I love teaching and learning languages. I am an avid reader and enjoy all genres of literature. I like to get to know things about my students and let them know a little bit about myself as well. I played high school and college volleyball and am now a freshman high school coach as well as a player in the Newport Volleyball Club. I have also competed in the USA Open National Volleyball Championships which were held in Atlanta, Georgia. Ask any of my students and I’m sure they will tell you about my love of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the whole Peanuts gang! When I’m not in the classroom or on the court I can be found home scrap booking or out to a favorite restaurant with my family.

A little bit about what I teach………

5^th grade

The curriculum for the 5^th graders is based on world language course content. The first third of the year is devoted to obtaining general knowledge about communication as a whole. Where did it start? Who were the first communicators? How did communication evolve and develop? The students will be experimenting with early communication methods such as cave drawings, rebus problems, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The students will learn how languages developed across Europe and how different languages came to be spoken in the Western Hemisphere. The second third of the year will focus on the Spanish language, and the last part of the year the students will be learning French.

World language Unit

Important papers/projects world language unit:

1. Quiz- what is communication – I have included the study guide the students used to prepare for the quiz as a reference

Name_______________________________Date_________________Class___________

Instructions: Unscramble the underlined words to find the answers to the questions.

1. _______________ were the first known communicators.

Veca Enm

2. They communicated with cave drawings, bone carvings, and _______________.

noest giamrkns

3. The Great hall of the _________ was found in the Lascaux cave.

Bllsu

4. The Lascaux cave in located in the country of ____________.

Fceran

5. Another cave was found in ___________ Spain.

airatlmA

6. The ____________ were the people to develop the first written communication.

Semurians

7. They first used a system of pictures for sounds called ___________.

suber

8. The people assigned with the job of writing for this group of people were called ____.

sscrbie

9. They simplified their writing by using clay tablets in a system called _____________.

mrofcunei

10. Around the same time, the Ancient _________ were coming up with their own writing system.

Eiansgypt

11. They also used symbols and signs, but their sign were called ______________.

phshierylgo

12. They wrote on ___________ __________ instead of clay.

surypap llocssr

13. Overall, ________ __________ are stronger than ____________.

ylac sttabel

2. Hieroglyph stories project- The students wrote a small story about what they did during a long weekend, wrote the story phonetically (as an Egyptian would have written), and then recopied the story in Egyptian hieroglyphs.

3. Indo-European language project- The students are assigned a sub group of the Indo-European language family, and they will make posters where they show the flags, words, a picture, and countries of the languages in that sub-group. Students will be graded based on meeting the project requirements, being neat, finishing on time, and being organized. The objective of this project is to have the students see how languages in the same sub group are very similar, see what countries speak certain languages, and learn where resources can be found for language translation.

4. World language unit test- The students will be tested on their comprehension and understanding of the world language curriculum. Below is the study guide they will bring home to prepare for the test.

World Language Unit Test Study Questions

Please answer the following questions in complete sentences. This will be your world language test study guide

1. Please write one sentence defining what communication is.

Communication is a way of sharing thoughts, ideas, or emotions through various methods and techniques.

2. Please give one example of a group of communicators we learned about, and say what their way of communicating was.

Cave dwellers- cave drawings, stone markings, bone drawings Sumerians- rebus/cuneiform Egyptians- hieroglyphs

3. Please write a word using the rebus system of writing.

+ = sunflower

4. Who were the people who created the first alphabet?

The Greeks invented the first alphabet.

5. Where do we get the word alphabet from?

The word alphabet comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet; Alpha and Beta.

6. About how many languages are spoken around the world?

There are about three thousand languages spoken around the world.

7. What is the name of the language family ½ of the world speaks a language from?

__Half of the world speaks an Indo-European language.________________________________________

8. Please tell me what sub-group in this language family English is in.

The English language is in the Germanic sub-group.

9. How many language families are there in total?

There are a total of 9 language families.

10. Name the 5 Romance languages.

The five Romance languages are French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian.

11. Name the 3 languages spoken in the Western Hemisphere.

The three languages spoken in the Western Hemisphere are English, Spanish and Portuguese.

12. Write a sentence saying why new words are still being added to the English language.

New words are still being added to the English language because there are new discoveries and inventions that need to be named.

13. Write a word that did not exist 50 years ago.

Examples: computer, laser, compact disc, ipod, dvd

After this unit test the students will have 20 classes of Spanish where they will learn about the Spanish culture and vocabulary. The students will do the same with the French. Assessments for the Spanish and French classes will consist of various classroom assignments, vocabulary quizzes, research projects, and speaking skills.

4^th Grade

The 4^th graders will be learning Spanish for the whole course of the year. I will also be incorporating a section of their social studies curriculum with our study of Mexico. Throughout the year the students will learn the location and geographical characteristics of Mexico, along with the history of Mexico’s development and conquest. They will also be exposed to cultural aspects of Mexico, such as food, music, business, religion.

Websites that are a good resource for students learning Spanish

A fun website we sometimes visit in class is www.spanishspanish.com. There students can learn vocabulary that may not be taught this year in Spanish class, as well as practice and quiz themselves to see how well they are learning the words.

I hope this page is helpful to any students or parents with questions about what World language is and what you can expect. If you have any questions feel free to email me at hdorgan@freelake.org and I will be happy to help with an answer. Thanks for visiting my site!

Ms. Dorgan